A Look Back on 2016 and What's Next in 2017

/
A Look Back on 2016 and What's Next in 2017

2016 was another trying year. I was still in the cervical collar when I rang in the New Year.  It was a bittersweet moment, as I was happy to leave 2015 behind, but I also felt deflated as I was starting the new year of with an injury. I could not wait to be healthy, and thought that once I was free of that damn C-collar I would be good to go. What a delusion that was! It took me almost a year to feel like my old self again, and this was certainly not for a lack of effort to claw my way back to health and fitness. Much to my dismay, the road to recovery was long and lasted for the duration of my final full triathlon season before I return to medicine. Needless to say, this pursuit did not go as I had hoped it would, and after a great deal of struggle and despair I now feel at peace with what was and what will be.  Sometimes life does not feel fair, but I found it feels much better to embrace the struggle instead of fight it, and to not harbor resentment towards the unfortunate circumstances life throws at me.

Read More

Quakerman Olympic Plus-Making Progress

/
Quakerman Olympic Plus-Making Progress

Another race in the books for 2015! This local (I love local races!) was a last minute addition to the schedule, as I wanted to get another race under my belt to test my fitness and make some improvements from the Lake George Triathlon before I make the final push to the last race of the season (it is going to be a surprise). In the past, I feel like I have made a big jump in performance between my first and second races of the season, and this race was no exception. The swim was short and very, very choppy so it is difficult to compare times, but I my bike and run showed improvements from the race just three weeks ago; just another sign of things to come.

Read More

No Stranger to Comebacks

/
No Stranger to Comebacks

I am no stranger to comebacks, as I have been coming from behind since day one. I was born nearly two months early and needed the help of a ventilator to breathe, and was hooked-up to all sorts of lines and tubes during my 5 week stay in the Neonatal ICU. I do not remember a time where I was lagging in reaching my developmental milestones, and some of my earliest grade school memories are of me beating almost all of the boys in the mile run during gym class in the first grade. I think I made quite a comeback from being the 3lb newborn to being a standout high school runner, a Division I athlete, and now a professional triathlete.

Read More

Looking Back and Moving Forward

/
Looking Back and Moving Forward

This weekend is a rather significant weekend in the history of the second coming of my athletic career. After college I swore off training and racing; feeling disappointed by the short-comings of my collegiate athletic campaign and burnt out after battling through injuries my junior and senior year, I deemed exercise as a way to stay in shape and fill up my free time after work versus a means to getting into peak physical form for competition. All that changed when I started medical school in the fall of 2011. I would struggle going from class to the library without a time to decompress and recharge in between. So I did what I had done my whole life and I ran after school.

Read More

Ironman World Championships-Shoot for the Moon, Podium at Kona

/
Ironman World Championships-Shoot for the Moon, Podium at Kona

After a decent night of sleep, I awoke 15 minutes before my alarm was set to go off race morning. I sat at the table with the lights dimmed and ate what would be my last meal of real food for the day. It was still pitch black outside, not even a hint of dawn, as I listened to the waves crashing against the lava wall through the darkness. I picked at my bowl of oatmeal and Nutella; my appetite dissipated as my nervousness swelled up deep inside me. I powered through and finished eating before my parents arrived to pick me up.

Read More